India doesnt mind seeming contradictions. Rishikesh is this place of meditation but they start banging temple bells loudly sometime between 430am and 630 am. Loudspeakers with bhajans too. You learn to transcend it somehow; all the horns and crazy sounds are truly loud but they just pass through you (or youd go a little nuts) Funny I should have peaceful quiet to look forward to when I return. I remember long ago riding a bus to the high himalayan shrine of Badrinath above 10,000 feet. At about 9,000 feet, the charter bus picked up an old Yogi walking barefoot up the road. He just had a blanket and pretty small bag. He sat next to me and we made friends. He was 97 years old and traveled to the high place every year to harvest herbs of longevity. We spoke of Spiritual things. He was mocking the temple culture of India saying Man makes God and puts God in the Temple and then goes to the temple to worship God. If God were really living in the temple you wouldnt just go bow and leave but youd stay in the temple with God! Just then the bus stopped at a temple at the bottom of the grade to Badrinath. I guess its a tradition to stop there and pay respects before heading up the hill. The Baba got up and I asked him where he was going (cause I hadnt figured this out there) He told me he was going to pay respects at the temple. Thats India. I bought the Baba a pair of shoes later and he gave me an old copy of the Bhagavad Gita from his tiny bag. I still have it.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 03:09:09 +0000
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